Public or Private Goods?

Edited by Brigitte Unger, Daan van der Linde and Michael Getzner

in Books from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The book explores the core public tasks that the state has traditionally provided but which increasingly are being privatized and subsumed by the private sector. The night-watchman state role of providing security is instead offered by private prisons and security guards. Legitimized by the argument of efficiency gains, social security including public housing, pensions, unemployment insurance and health care are all being gradually privatized. This book argues that on the basis of efficiency, morality and equality there is still an overwhelming need for public intervention – the res publica. Although the state still funds and regulates core domains, it provides fewer and fewer visible goods. The authors show how this apparent invisibility of the state presents serious challenges for both income equality and democracy.

Keywords: Economics and Finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
ISBN: 9781785369544
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Chapters in this book:

Ch 1 Introduction , pp 1-17

Brigitte Unger, Loek Groot and Daan van der Linde

Ch 2 Value-based demarcation between the public and the private domain , pp 18-34

Klaas van Egmond

Ch 3 The fight against money laundering: a public task? , pp 37-47

Joras Ferwerda

Ch 4 Natural disasters and (future) government debt , pp 48-74

Ian Koetsier

Ch 5 The advantages and disadvantages of different pension system designs , pp 77-94

Ian Koetsier

Ch 6 Pension provision: (still) a public task? , pp 95-116

Florian Blank

Ch 7 Protection against unemployment: a res publica? , pp 117-131

Brigitte Unger

Ch 8 More health care or more beer? A curious paradox of making some economic tasks a res publica , pp 132-149

Frans van Waarden

Ch 9 ECEC: childcare markets in the Netherlands and England , pp 150-172

Trudie Knijn and Jane Lewis

Ch 10 Housing policy and spatial inequality: recent insights from Vienna and Amsterdam , pp 175-196

Gerlinde Gutheil-Knopp-Kirchwald and Justin Kadi

Ch 11 Funding of protected areas: a purely public task? , pp 197-222

Grazia Withalm

Ch 12 The role of governments in conserving and funding cultural institutions , pp 223-252

Michael Getzner

Ch 13 Income distribution as a public task: the redistributive preferences of (mis)informed voters , pp 253-270

Daan van der Linde

Ch 14 Conclusions , pp 271-282

Brigitte Unger, Michael Getzner and Daan van der Linde

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